Dryer unit



Jan. 23, 1968 c. w. coLuNs DRYER UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct.

v INVENTOR. GEORGE W. COLLINS R;

Attorney Jan. 23, 1968 3. w. COLLINS DRYER UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct.

INVENTOR GEORGE W. COLLINS BY g Attorney United States Patent 3,364,530 DRYER UNIT George W. Collins, 5524 Whitsett Ave,

North Hollywood, Calif. 91697 Continuation of application Ser. No. 313,073, Oct. 1, 1963. This application Aug. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 576,172 Claims. (Cl. 3477) ABSTRACT 8F THE DISCLGSURE A dryer unit for removing moisture from material, such as hair, which unit has an outside condenser section utilized to evaporate the water removed in the drying cycle. Thus, no external piping is required for removing liquid condensate from the unit.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 313,073, filed Oct. 1, 1963, by George W. Collins.

This invention relates to a dryer unit for removing the moisture from material, such as hair and clothing, which are preferably dried as promptly as possible.

Hair dryers generally heat atmospheric air and then blow the air over the head and there is no attempt to increase the ability of the air to absorb moisture by removing moisture from the air. in US. Patents 2,335,553 and 2,527,745, refrigeration coils for moisture removal has been proposed, and a part of the recirculating air is bypassed around the condensing coil to prevent too high a temperature from being imparted to the air entering the drying unit. However, such devices fail to provide sufficient cooling medium for the condenser so that the excessive temperature will build up in these prior devices. The device of US. Patent 2,314,101 utilizes a condensing coil which has a section located externally of the air passage, and has a bypass around the heating portion of the condensing coil in the air passage which can be utilized to control the temperature of the drying arr.

The present invention also places a section of the condenser outside of the air passage and heats the air with another section of the condenser located in the air passage. However, the present invention also provides for the utilization of the cold water which is condensed from the air by the cooling coil. Provision is made for the water to drip over and around the outside section of the condenser which is located outside the air passage. The condensed water, in cooling the outside condenser section, is evaporated into the atmosphere so that no plumbing is required for the installation of the dryer unit. Further, the invention utilizes control means which are sensitive to temperature of the vapor discharge from the air heating section of the condenser or to temperature of the drying air to control the temperature increase imparted to the drying air by the heating section of the condenser. Such control means can comprise a temperature sensitive valve in the connecting line between the two condenser sections or can comprise a bypass which controls the quantity of the compressed vapor introduced to the heating section of the condenser. Also, the invention can utilize the compressor discharge pressure to control the quantity of vapor which is bypassed around the heating section of the condenser. The eificiency of the cooling coil to remove moisture is greatly increased by utilizing a plurality of capillary tubes connecting into the cooling coil at spaced locations so that each section of the coil directly receives expanded refrigeration to keep all sections of the coil at a low temperature required for removal of moisture.

it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dryer unit which cools the drying medium, such fid ifi d Patented Jan. 23, 1%68 as air, with a cooling coil to remove moisture therefrom and thereafter warms the air with a section of a condenser; the removed water being utilized to cool another section of the condensing coil located outside the passage for the drying medium.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dryer unit having a cooling coil and a condenser which is divided into a heating section located within the passage for the drying air and an outside section, and control means in the line connecting the two sections to control the rise in temperature imparted to the drying air by the heating section.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dryer unit having a cooling coil and a condenser which is divided into a heating section and an outside section, and a bypass around the heating section for controlling the rise in temperature imparted to the drying air by the heating section.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dryer unit which removes moisture from the drying medium and requires only an electrical connection.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dryer unit having a cooling coil to remove moisture from the drying medium, said cooling coil directly receiving refrigeration at various spaced locations.

These and other objects of the invention not specifically set forth above will become readily apparent from the accompanying description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of the dryer unit of the present invention with portions broken away to illustrate the cooling coil and the heating and outside sections of the condenser.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational View of a modified cooling coil showing a plurality of capillary tubes for directly introducing refrigerant into spaced locations of the coil.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section of a hair drying hood which can be connected with the dryer unit of the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged partial sectional view of the outside section of the condenser.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged partial sectional view of a modification of the outside section of the condenser.

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic view of a modification of the invention in which control means bypasses compressed refrigerant around the heating section of the condenser in response to drying air temperature; and

FIGURE 7 is a diagrammatic view of a modification of the invention in which control means bypasses compressed refrigerant around the heating section of the condensing coil in response to compressor discharge pressure.

The embodiment of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration comprises a rectangular casing 10 having a transverse partition 11 which divides the interior of the casing into upper and lower spaces. The upper space is further divided into right and left spaces 12 and 13, respectively, by a vertical partition 14 which extends from top panel 15 almost to the partition 11, leaving a passage space 16 therebetween. An extension 26 of partition 14 extends above top panel 15 and provides for the separation of inlet passage 21 from outlet passage 22. The inlet passage communicates only with space 12 while outlet passage communicates only with space 13 and the two spaces are connected by passage 16.

Space 12 contains a cooling or evaporator coil 24 which comprises a plurality of tube rows or banks extending across the width of space 12, and space 13 contains heating section 25 of the condenser along with blower 25 which moves the drying medium leaving section 25 into the outlet passage 22. Impeller 27 of blower 26 can be driven by a suitable electrical motor, not shown, contained within the blower casing. While the drying medium for the unit can comprise any suitable gas, the medium will be referred to as air since air is the most convenient and economical medium.

When the dryer unit is utilized to dry hair after a hair shampoo, it can be connected to a dryer hood 3% such as shown in FIGURE 3. The outlet passage 22 can connect with the hood passage 22a which directs the hot air to hood space 31 which distributes the air around the head of the hair 32. Air is uniformly directed to the hair through a plurality of openings 33 and the air leaving the hair enters space 34 through an annular passage 35 around the lower edge of the hood. Space 34 connects with passage 2101 which returns the air to passage 21 for reintroduction into the casing 14). Thus, the blower 26 circulates the drying air from passage 21 over cooling coil 24 in space 12 and over heating section 25 in space 13 to passage 22 leading to the drying location, such as hood 30, and then back to the passage 21.

Space below the horizontal partition 11 contains a standard refrigeration compressor 41 driven by an electric motor 42 and the high pressure, high temperature vapor is discharged from the compessor to the inlet of heating section 25 of the condenser through passage 43. Also, space 49 contains an outside section 44 of the condenser which is located outside the air passage in an open pan 39 and is connected with the outlet of heating section 25 by passage 45 passing through partition 11. A passage 46 connects the refrigerant leaving outside section 44 with expansion valve 47 and the expanded refrigerant is introduced to the inlet of cooling coil 24 through passage 48. The warmed refrigerant returns to the inlet of the compressor 41 from the cooling coil through passage 49 to again pass through the standard refrigeration cycle just described.

Air entering space 12 from passage 21 contains moisture which has been picked up by the air in the drying process. In passing over cooling coil 24, water is condensed out of the air by lowering the temperature of the air below its dew point. This Water is collected in partition 11 which has retaining sides 50 and end 51 and is slanted downward toward the right side to retain the water over the outside condenser section 44 (see FIGURE 4). The partition 11 contains openings 52 which permit the cold, condensed water 53 to drip downwardly over the outside coil section 44 and the water is retained in pan 39 until it evaporates. The lower sections of the front and back walls of casing 19 opposite space 40 are covered with screening 54 to permit air circulation through space 40 in order to cool the motor and compressor and to aid in the evaporation of water in pan 39. Also, a fan 55 is located in space 40 above coil section 44 and is driven by motor 56 in order to circulate air over the top of pan 39 and section 44 to further aid in evaporation of the water.

The discharging of the water over coil section 44 serves as a coolant since the water, as initially removed from the air, is cold and upon evaporation, takes up its latent heat from the coil section. While in FIGURE 4, the pan 39 is illustrated as almost full of water, it is understood that the water level will vary depending upon the heat balance of the dryer unit. Since the condensed water can be removed as vapor by dripping it over the outside coil section, it is unnecessary to provide plumbing to remove the water. Therefore, the dryer unit is completely portable and only an electrical connection is required.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the passage 45 connecting the two sections of the condenser contains a valve 36 which is normally preset to distribute the condensing load between the two coil sections 25 and 44. When the valve is moved toward closed position the pressure of refrigerant in section 25 will increase so that the condensing load taken up in section 25 will be increased with respect to coil section 44 because a greater density of refrigerant will be present within coil section 25. if desired, the passage 45 can contain valve 36' which is positioned in response to the temperature of the refrigerant leaving section 25. The valve is connected to a metallic coil 37 contained within a space 38 connected with passage 45 so that the coil is at the temperature of the refrigerant in passage 45. If this temperature increases, the coil will move valve 36' towards closed position to decrease this discharge temperature and increase the temperature rise of the air through coil section 25. As illustrated in FIG- URE 2, the expansion valve 47 can be replaced by a plurality of capillary expansion tubes 58, each of which connects to a separate tube row or bank 59. Thus, the refrigerant is expanded directly to the numerous coil banks to present a lower coil temperature to the air at the lower banks and thus, increase the effectiveness of the cooling coil 24 to remove moisture from the incoming air.

Referring to FIGURE 5, an enlarged outside coil section 44' is located in pan 3% within enlarged space 49' so that a substantial part of the coil section is above the water level in the fan. The fan 55, positioned above the coil, will circulate air over the entire coil above the water line and Water from openings 52 will also drip over the section 44'. Thus, the cooling of coil section 44 will be a combination of air cooling and water cooling.

A first modified refrigeration system is illustrated in FIGURE 6 and comprises a refrigerant bypass line 60 connected between lines 43 and 45 in order to bypass refrigeration around heating section 25 of the condenser. A valve 61 is located at the junction of lines 60 and 43 and is mounted on the passage at hinge point 62. An outside actuation arm 63 connects with the valve at the hinge point and movement of arm 63 moves the valve 61 to regulate the percentages of compressed refrigerant that will enter lines 43 and 69 from line 64 connecting with the compressor 41. counterclockwise movement of the valve will increase the percentage going through line 43 while clockwise movement of the valve will increase the percentage going to line all. The actuation arm s3 is controlled by a link 65 connected with transducer 6 and the transducer is controlled by a thermostat 67 located at the discharge side of coil section 25 to sense the temperature of air being circulated by fan as to the drying location, such as hood 36.

When the discharge air temperature becomes too high, the valve 61 will be moved clockwise to bypass a greater amount of refrigerant to outside section 44. If the discharge air temperature is not high enough, valve 61 will be moved counterclockwise to increase the refrigerant delivered to coil section 25 in order to increase the heat absorbed by the air in passing through coil section 25. The outside condenser section is of suflicient size to accommodate the condensing load regardless of the amount of refrigerant bypassed. While the back pressure opposing flow to junction 79 through condenser section 25 will be greater than through passage 60, the valve 61 can be positioned to compensate for this difference and obtain the desired division of flow. Also, a restrictor 71 can be placed in line 6%, if desired, to balance the resistance to flow through coil section 25 and line 69. V

A second modified refrigeration system is illustrated in FIGURE 7 and is similar to the system shown in FIG- URE 6 except that the position of valve 61 is controlled by a transducer '75 through line 76 and the transducer is connected with pressure gauge 77 in line 64 which senses the compressor discharge pressure. When the discharge pressure increases, the valve 61 will rotate clockwise to reduce the percentage of refrigerant entering heating coil 25 and when the discharge pressure decreases, the valve 61 will rotate in the counterclockwise direction to increase the amount of refrigerant entering coil 25. This control of pressure will regulate the air temperature leaving the unit to a desired value.

The present invention provides for the utilization of the cold water removed from the air to cool an outside section of the condenser and the heat in excess of that required to warm the air can be dissipated outside the air passage. Also, the bypass between the heating section is provided to control the discharge air temperature and such passage can be used with an outside condenser section which may not be water cooled. Also, any selected state of the refrigerant or air within the system can be utilized to control a transducer for activating the bypass control valve to control the air discharge temperature. It is understood that the cooling capacity of the cooling coil and the condenser loads on the two condenser sections can be initially balanced at the time of assembly so that no valves are required in the refrigeration system. Also, in certain instances, it may be desirable to transfer the water removed from the air directly to a drain rather than to the container 39, in which case the outside section of the condenser can function as a gravity coil without using fan 55. When the outside air has lower humidity than the returning circulated air, the inlet can be connected to atmosphere rather than to return air.

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary completely self-contained dryer unit capable of removing moisture from and entering gaseous medium without connection to external plumbing for supplying cooling water to or removing liquid condensate from said unit,

a casing having sidewalls, a bottom wall, and a top wall;

a normally generally horizontal partition within said casing dividing the interior of said casing into upper and lower spaces and perimetrically joined to said casing sidewalls, thereby to isolate said spaces from one another;

a normally generally vertical partition within said upper space and joined to two opposing sidewalls and said top wall of said casing, said vertical partition dividing said upper space into vertical cooling and heating passages;

there being an inlet and an outlet in the upper end of said casing communicating to the upper ends of said cooling and heating passages, respectively, and passage means at the lower end of said vertical partition communicating the lower ends of said passages above said horizontal partition;

a refrigeration system within said casing including a compressor and a drive motor therefor within said lower casing space, a first condenser within said heating passage, a second condenser within said lower space directly below said cooling passage, and an evaporator within said cooling passage;

means within said lower space defining a condensate tank containing said second condenser;

said dryer accommodating fluid flow from said inlet through said cooling and heating passages to said outlet, whereby the incoming fluid is cooled and dehumidified during flow through said cooling passage and over said evaporator and said fluid is thereafter heated during flow through said heating passage and over said first condenser;

said horizontal partition having at least one drainage opening therethrough at the lower end of said cooling passage through which moisture removed from the entering fluid during its flow over said evaporator may drain directly into said tank whereby said condensate cools said second condenser and said condensate is thereby evaporated;

said drainage opening being restricted to prevent entrance of condensate vapor into said passages and said casing having wall openings communicating said lower space to atmosphere to permit air circulation through said lower space, whereby said condensate is removed from said casing in the vapor state; and

said refrigeration system being balanced to effect evaporation of condensate from said tank at a rate suflicient to prevent overflow of said tank, whereby said dryer unit may be operated continuously without connection to said external plumbing.

2. A dryer comprising:

a casing having sidewalls, a bottom wall, and a top wall;

a normally generally horizontal partition within said casing dividing the interior of said casing into upper and lower spaces and perimetrically joined to said casing sidewalls, thereby to isolate said spaces from one another;

a normally generally vertical partition within said upper space and joined to two opposing sidewalls and said top wall of said casing, said vertical partition dividing said upper space into vertical cooling and heating passages;

there being an inlet and an outlet in the upper end of said casing communicating to the upper ends of said cooling and heating passages, respectively, and passage means at the lower end of said vertical partition communicating the lower ends of said passages above said horizontal partition;

a refrigeration system within said casing including a compressor and a drive motor therefor within said lower casing space, a first condenser within said heating passage, a second condenser within said lower space directly below said cooling passage, and an evaporator within said cooling passage;

said evaporator comprising a refrigerant passage; and said refrigeration system comprising a header through which refrigerant flows to said evaporator and means defining a number of capillary passages communicating said header and said refrigerant passage at positions spaced along said refrigerant passage through which said refrigerant expands into said evaporator;

means within said lower space defining a condensate tank containing said second condenser;

said dryer accommodating fluid flow from said inlet through said cooling and heating passages to said outlet, whereby the incoming fluid is cooled and dehumidified during flow through said cooling passageand over said evaporator and said fluid is thereafter heated during flow through said heating passage and a over said first condenser; and

said horizontal partition having at least one drainage opening therethrough at the lower end of said cooling passage through which moisture removed from the entering fluid during its flow over said evaporator may drain directly into said tank for cooling said second condenser.

3. A unitary completely self-contained dryer unit capable of removing moisture from an entering gaseous medium without connection to external plumbing for supplying cooling water to or removing liquid condensate from said unit, comprising:

a casing having an inlet and an outlet for said medium, an internal passage communicating said inlet and outlet, and an internal chamber space isolated from said passage;

a refrigeration system contained entirely within said casing including an evaporator located in said passage adjacent said inlet for cooling and thereby dehumidifying the entering medium, a condenser having a heating section located in said passage adjacent said outlet for heating the dehumidified medium emerging from said evaporator and an outside section located in said chamber space;

means defining an open condensate tank within said chamber space containing said outside condenser section;

drainage means for draining into said tank the condensate removed from said medium during its flow over said evaporator, whereby said condensate cools said outside condenser section and said condensate is thereby evaporated;

said drainage means being arranged to prevent passage 7 8 of condensate vapor from said chamber space to said said condenser further includes a section located in passage and said casing having wall openings comsaid chamber space externally of said tank and in municating said chamber space to atmosphere to the path of said air flow. permit air circulation through said chamber space, whereby said condensate is removed from said casing 5 References Cited i: y p r state; b 1 M E t UNITED STATES PATENTS sar re rigera ion sys em emg a ance 0e ec evaporation of condensate from said tank at a rate sufiig cient to prevent overflow of said tank, whereby said 1986863 1/1935 Te 5 y dryer unit may be operated continuously without 10 491 6/1942 g ;""f X connection to said external plumbing. ,2296997 9/1919 Kno 67 279 4. A dryer unit according to claim 3 including: 01 3/1943 Phipgs X a fan mounted within said chamber space for inducing air flow over said tank to accelerate evaporation of FREDERICK L M ATTESON JR Primary Examiner condensate from said tank. 15 I 5. A dryer unit according to claim 4 wherein: HERRMANN, Assistant r- 

